In The Trenches
In The Trenches
Steve Divitkos
Rethinking Asset Intensity in Search Fund Acquisitions
10 minutes Posted Jul 31, 2025 at 10:00 am.
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This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Insurance Broker and Insurance Due Diligence Provider for Search Funds and Other Small-to-Medium-Sized Businesses⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

 

 

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This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠B⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠oulay, the industry standard for Quality of Earnings, tax, and audit services, serving search fund entrepreneurs for 20+ years⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠



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Although the vast majority of Search Funds seek to acquire businesses that are both “asset-light” and “capital-light” (that is, companies that don’t have a large base of tangible assets that need to be added to, refurbished, or replaced to either maintain operations or pursue growth), I don’t believe that the mere presence of capex should necessarily disqualify a company from consideration.


In this episode, we begin by exploring the circumstances within which capex can be a tolerable part of any given deal, and we’ll conclude by discussing how buyers should adjust their approach to valuation based on the asset intensity of the target company in question.